學(xué)徒特朗普樹立的壞榜樣

Donald Trump’s election campaign played like a special edition of The Apprentice, his best-known reality television vehicle — one in which the winner gets to direct the free world rather than a handful of Trump-branded projects.

唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的競選活動就像是他最出名的真人秀《學(xué)徒》(The Apprentice)的一期特別節(jié)目，不過獲勝者的獎勵不是得以執(zhí)掌幾個特朗普旗下的項目，而是得以執(zhí)掌自由世界。

As interesting, and worrying, as the question of what a businessman with no political experience might do to the presidency is what effect Mr Trump’s success could have on business leadership.

除了一名毫無政治經(jīng)驗的商人會對總統(tǒng)這一職位產(chǎn)生何種影響這個問題外，特朗普的成功可能對商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖產(chǎn)生何種影響也是一個同樣有趣而又令人擔(dān)憂的問題。

His victory looks like a throwback to the late 1990s: the older, white, male chief executive in suit and tie, peddling platitudes from a podium. Not that he ever went away, as is obvious from a glance at US corporate boardrooms, where only one in five directors are women and fewer are from minorities.

他的勝利看起來就像倒退到上世紀(jì)90年代末：那個西裝革履、年邁的、白人男性首席執(zhí)行官，在宣講臺上兜售著那套陳詞濫調(diào)。他從未離開，只用撇一眼美國企業(yè)的董事會就能明顯看出這一點——僅有五分之一的董事為女性，少數(shù)族裔董事的比例更少。

But the accession of Mr Trump to the top job is not only a comfort to the many executives who look like him. “He’s a businessman”, was also a common prefix to voters’ justification of their support, as a sample of post-poll vox pops reveals. “He’s a businessman. If anyone can fix this mess, he can,” Rodney Bridges told reporters in South Carolina; “He’s a businessman, not a politician so there’s no BS,” offered Cathy House of Washington in another round-up of voter opinions; “We need somebody to run [the] country like a businessman,” claimed Joseph Baljak in Ohio.

但特朗普就任最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人一職，不僅慰藉了很多看起來像他一樣的高管。正如民調(diào)后民意訪問的樣本所揭示的那樣， “他是個商人”也是選民們解釋自己為何支持特朗普的常見開場白。“他是個商人。如果有誰能解決這個爛攤子的話，那就是他了，”羅德尼•布里奇斯(Rodney Bridges)在南卡羅來納州告訴記者稱;“他是個商人、不是政客，所以不會胡說八道，”華盛頓的凱西•豪斯(Cathy House)在另一項民調(diào)提要中表示;“我們需要一個像商人一樣‘經(jīng)營’(這個)國家的人，”俄亥俄州的約瑟夫•巴利亞克(Joseph Baljak)宣稱。

Leave aside the questions of whether a country can be run like a company (it really can’t) or whether businessmen have given up spouting BS (they really haven’t), the cult of the imperial business leader clearly persists in the popular imagination. Not the least disturbing aspect of Mr Trump’s election is that his rise is likely to reinforce this religion at businesses that were starting to grow out of it.

暫且拋開國家能否像企業(yè)一樣“經(jīng)營”的問題(其實真的不能)不談、也先不討論商人是否已經(jīng)改掉了滔滔不絕地胡說八道的毛病(他們真的沒有)，對帝王型商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖的信仰明顯依然存在于大眾的想象中。特朗普的競選最令人不安的一點是，他的崛起可能會在本已開始擺脫這種信仰的企業(yè)界中強(qiáng)化這種信仰。

There is a place for top-down leadership. One chief executive who had inherited the role from a notoriously autocratic predecessor rebuked me recently for suggesting such leadership traits were outmoded. On the contrary, he said, executives will always need to be capable of exerting a firm grip — in a crisis, say. But he added that problems arise when leaders take autocracy to extremes. Even if Mr Trump tempers his worst instincts, or has them checked and balanced by the US political system, the method of his accession has set a terrible leadership example.

自上而下的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)方式有其一席之地。最近，一名從出了名得獨斷專行的前任手中繼承衣缽的首席執(zhí)行官，指責(zé)我不應(yīng)暗示這種領(lǐng)導(dǎo)方式已經(jīng)過時。他稱，事實正好相反，高管們始終都需要能夠牢牢掌控局面——比如在危機(jī)中。但他補(bǔ)充稱，當(dāng)這種獨斷超過一定限度時，問題就會出現(xiàn)。即便特朗普按耐住自己最糟糕的本能反應(yīng)、或接受美國政治體制的制衡，他登上總統(tǒng)之位的方式也為各行各業(yè)的領(lǐng)袖樹立了壞榜樣。

Gianpiero Petriglieri, of Insead Business School, points out that Mr Trump is not a command-and-control leader in the mould of business geniuses such as Steve Jobs or Henry Ford. He falls instead into a category of narcissistic leaders. When they appeal to the tribal instinct that “we are good and they are evil”, they risk unleashing forces that are, Prof Petriglieri told me, “very hard to command and almost impossible to control”.

歐洲工商管理學(xué)院(Insead Business School)的詹皮耶羅•彼得里列里(Gianpiero Petriglieri)指出，特朗普不是像史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)和亨利•福特(Henry Ford)等商業(yè)天才那樣的指揮控制型領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。相反，他屬于那種自戀型領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。彼得里列里教授告訴我，當(dāng)他們利用“我們是好人，他們是壞人”的古老本能時，他們可能會釋放出一些“非常難以指揮并且?guī)缀鯚o法控制”的力量。

Some narcissistic traits help leaders make it to the top. Self-confidence, ambition, extroversion: these are the very essence of what makes a successful candidate in The Apprentice — and a critical part of a politician’s surface attraction to voters.

一些自戀特征能夠幫助領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人站上權(quán)力巔峰。自信、野心、外向，這些是造就成功的《學(xué)徒》候選人的核心品質(zhì)，也是政客對選民外在吸引力的關(guān)鍵成分。

It is no coincidence that The Apprentice, at least in Mr Trump’s US version, spawns more self-promoting celebrities than successful executives. The format, like that of a 21st-century political campaign, encourages candidates to big themselves up at the expense of rivals and even team members. An analysis of their technical aptitude or capacity for sustained hard work would make for dull television in the same way that Hillary Clinton found such traits turned off many voters.

《學(xué)徒》(至少在特朗普的美國版里)催生的自我推銷型名人多過成功高管，這并非偶然。就像21世紀(jì)的政治競選活動一樣，該節(jié)目的模式鼓勵候選人以犧牲競爭對手、甚至團(tuán)隊成員為代價抬升自己。對他們的專業(yè)天賦或持續(xù)辛勤工作的能力進(jìn)行分析會讓節(jié)目變得無趣，就像希拉里•克林頓(Hillary Clinton)發(fā)現(xiàn)這些品質(zhì)會讓很多選民失去興趣一樣。

In excessive doses, though, narcissism may hinder leaders’ effectiveness and even prompt them to take unnecessary risks.

不過，自戀過度可能有礙領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的效率，甚至促使他們冒不必要的風(fēng)險。

After a number of chief executives ran into scandal and opprobrium in the early 2000s, companies’ appetite for “great man” leaders seemed to wane. Academic attention switched to the question of how groups behaved and the more nuanced and inclusive virtues of collaboration and teamwork.

2000年代初，在一些CEO們陷入丑聞并遭到指責(zé)后，企業(yè)對“偉人型”領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的興趣似乎減弱了。學(xué)術(shù)界的關(guān)注轉(zhuǎn)向群體如何表現(xiàn)以及合作和團(tuán)隊協(xié)作等更微妙和具有包容性的美德。

But Mr Trump’s success is even now writing itself into leadership guides and business school courses. It is certain to tempt more executives to emulate his self-aggrandisement as a shortcut to power, while neglecting the essential but tricky challenge of how to run the organisation once they get there. The scrutiny of investors, directors, regulators and media, may find out these tyro corporate leaders before they can do much damage. But some will slip through to board level. Other potential bosses, less Trump-like in look or temperament, will simply never try to get there.

但是現(xiàn)在特朗普的成功甚至被寫入了領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力指南和商學(xué)院的課程里。這必然會誘使更多高管去模仿特朗普的自命不凡，以此作為獲取權(quán)力的捷徑，而忽視了在得到權(quán)力后所面臨的根本而又棘手的挑戰(zhàn)——如何管理這個組織。股東、董事、監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)和媒體的仔細(xì)審視，或許會在這些新手企業(yè)領(lǐng)袖造成重大損害前發(fā)現(xiàn)問題。但會有一些漏網(wǎng)之魚溜入董事會級別。其他有潛力到達(dá)董事級別、但在形象或性情上不那么像特朗普的人，則永遠(yuǎn)不會嘗試到達(dá)那個級別。

There is another possibility, of course: the president-elect will rein in his self-regard, cultivating a capacity for deft delegation and diligent management that will fulfil his supporters’ desire for an effective businessman-in-chief. On current form, though, that looks a tall order.

當(dāng)然，還有另外一種可能性：這位當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)將收斂他的自戀，培養(yǎng)熟練委派和勤奮管理的能力，滿足其支持者對一個高效的商人統(tǒng)帥的渴望。不過，以目前形勢來看，這似乎是一項艱巨的任務(wù)。